Don Shirley – Angeles Stage Ham,’ meet ‘Hedley.’ Plus plays looking forward, plays looking back. Also includes comments on Dinner with Friends, Kairos, High Maintenance, Could I Have This Dance?, Funny Girl, Into the Breeches, Power & Light, Stalin’s Master Class. Read more…
Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA So what makes this old funny girl funnier than ever before? Simply put, Katerina McCrimmon is absolutely the best Fanny Brice I’ve ever seen—and I’m old enough to have seen the original star-making turn by Babs herself before the film version cleaned her up a tad. Evoking Edith Piaf with … Read more
Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA Alex Edelman possesses one of the most distinct and unique voices to emerge on the scene since the late Robin Williams. Last November in the special engagement in the shuttered Mark Taper Forum, Edelman’s hilarious and perfectly timed Obie-winning Just for Us became the recipient of my annual TicketHolder Solo … Read more
Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA Lordie, I needed this. Unlike so many new plays these days, the world premiere of Becky Wahlstrom’s delightfully silly A Froggy Becomes from Open Fist doesn’t bombard us with weighty reminders of the massive trials and insurmountable inequities plaguing our fuckedup world, yet it still manages to covertly have something … Read more
Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA “Faith and force,” as the otherwise deluded Ayn Rand once wrote, “are the destroyers of mankind.” The efforts of director Maria Gobetti to set a fire under Jon Klein’s compelling yet craftily neutral treatise on the true nature of faith as something more than a flawed and rigidly demanding effort … Read more
Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA Under Stephen Sachs’ passionate leadership and sharply fluid direction, LA treasure Ron Bottitta and newcomer Patrick Keleher are mesmerizing as the father and son whose relationship tragically devolves and their lives are forever changed by the boy’s commitment to help spare the very fabric of our democracy. Read more…
Socks Whitmore – Stage Raw With violence on the rise, corruption in the spotlight, and extremist ideologies more polarized than ever, the need for radical change is as palpable as the need for conversation about it. For playwright Nick Salamone and director Jon Lawrence Rivera — the duo behind Playwrights’ Arena’s productions Helen & Billy … Read more
Anita W. Harris – LA Theatrix A fusion of remarkable choreography, dance, music and story, Matthew Bourne’s “Romeo + Juliet” offers a charged take on an age-old tale, one that speaks to being human in a cold, oppressive world where love nonetheless finds a way—however fleetingly. Read more… Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA The … Read more
Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA A little judicious tweaking and Juan Jose Alfonso’s Middle of the World could be something quite special. In the meantime, the performances of the two leading actors are alone worthy of attention. Read more… Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Playwright Juan Jose Alfonso’s Middle of the World skillfully encapsulates the … Read more
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw One of the main pleasures of history-based plays is reexamining subjects from a new perspective. The life of Mozart was forever altered in people’s perceptions after Amadeus opened. The term “witch hunt” to describe something other than the Salem trials likely was influenced by The Crucible. John Ross Bowie’s sharply … Read more